Using Affordable Computers to Improve Communication

1
Using Affordable Computers to Improve
Communication and Agriculture in India Vaibhav
Bhatnagar, Advisor Prof. Navarun
Gupta Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering, University of Bridgeport, CT.
Software to Help the Illiterate Find Work
Abstract
In a rapidly industrializing country like India,
computers are playing a vital role as an
equalizer and a tool of mass communication. Due
to varied terrain, weather, languages and lack of
infrastructure, it is difficult to provide
computer related services to the average Indian.
In this poster, we look at three projects that
are going to help overcome these obstacles and
improve the living conditions of an average
person in India.
Simputer
The Simputer is a low cost portable alternative
to PCs, by which the benefits of IT can reach the
common citizen if India. Simputer stands for
Simple, Inexpensive, Multi-lingual comPUTER
Hardware - CPU 32-bit Strong Arm SA-1100 RISC
CPU running at 200MHz - 32 MB of DRAM - 24 MB
Flash for Permanent Storage (DOC) - Display I/F
320x240 Monochrome LCD Display Panel
Interfaces - Touch-panel Overlay on LCD Display
used with a plastic stylus (Pen) - Speaker and
MIC Jacks Smartcard Connector - RJ-11 Telephone
Jack - USB Connector The projected cost of the
Simputer is about 250 at large volumes. But even
this is beyond the means of most citizens. The
Smart Card feature that the Simputer provides
enables the Simputer to be shared by a community.

Figure 3 Symbolic display
The software uses pictures, video and voice
commands to tell workers what jobs are available,
how much the jobs pay and where they are.
Working with a local advocacy group, Microsoft
has developed a prototype of a system that would
help connect illiterate domestic workers in India
with families seeking their services. The goal is
to help the women see how technology can make
finding work more efficient, as the first step
toward creating broader tools to allow illiterate
people to benefit from technological advances.
Figure 1 Simputer
Infostation
Multi-Lingual Computers
A country with 22 major languages, with less than
half the population proficient in English, has a
problem using Internet. Now, software is
available for various languages in India, and
these, along with translation tools make it
possible for an average Indian to communicate
with another person who speaks a different
language.
The InfoStation is a comprehensive information
acquisition, processing and delivery system. It
uses novel approach at each step and can be
deployed in small communities like villages and
provide locally customized information. The
information may be in the form of raw
information, like local weather reports, selling
prices of agricultural produce or health alerts.
Additionally, the system is capable of using
locally deployed sensors as well to acquire data.
The device is smart and can process data and
come up with suggestions based on known
relationships. For example, if it is dry season
and the maize crop is in its fourth week, the
system will generate a suggestion that it must be
watered twice a day. The system is ideally
suited for community deployment and is both
autonomous and education agnostic. Further, it
does not require the individual information
consumer to make any purchases or skill
additions. InfoStation is a way to bring the
benefits of IT to the lowest common denominator
of the world, and to help them rise from that
status. The consumer pays only 2 for the FM
receiver.
Figure 2 Keyboard layout for two different
languages
Indian Language Processing (ILP) Resources
Machine Readable Corpora About three million
words of machine readable corpora have been
developed in Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu,
Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Gujrati, Oriya,
Bengali, Sanskrit, Urdu, Assamese, Punjabi, and
Kashmiri. Software Tools for word level tagging,
Word Count, Letter Count, Frequency Count have
also been developed. The Tag Set consists of
Finite Verb (FV), Non-Finite Verb (NV), Noun
(NN), Pronoun (PN), Adjective (AJ), Adverb (AV),
Indeclinable (ID).   Maintenance and
Distribution of Corpora The developed corpora
in all these Indian Languages is being centrally
maintained at  Central Institute of Indian
Languages(CIIL), Ministry of Human Resource
Development,Department of Education,
Mansagangotri, Mysore (Karnataka).  This corpora
can be used for education and research purpose.
Table 1 Service Provider Costs